


Orange Juice

by Weeaboocorpse



Series: A Thousand Leagues with the Sunny [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, angst then fluff don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26904508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weeaboocorpse/pseuds/Weeaboocorpse
Summary: The date always crept up on Nami when she least expected it, but something in her gut knew it was coming. No matter how she tried to prepare herself for this day, she always underestimated how hard the loss felt each year. So much had happened in the past year, and years before that. She had grown so much as a person, and she had no way to share that joy with her mother.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Nami
Series: A Thousand Leagues with the Sunny [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1198825
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Orange Juice

**Author's Note:**

> Yes yes, I know they're tangarines, but I had the song Orange Juice stuck in my head

_ Belle-meré _ _ … _ Nami thought. December 3rd, it would have been her birthday. 

The date always crept up on Nami when she least expected it, but something in her gut knew it was coming. No matter how she tried to prepare herself for this day, she always underestimated how hard the loss felt each year. So much had happened in the past year, and years before that. She had grown so much as a person, and she had no way to share that joy with her mother. 

Somehow, even on top of all of this emotional grief, the universe decided to be extremely cruel today. 

It started out as small things, as most things do. The knob on the shower snapped off in the morning, startling the navigator out of her morning daze, then her jeans had ripped as she put them on, signaling it was time to stock up on them again. Their adventure had taken them to a remote island where she almost broke her ankle slipping off a cliff. It if hadn’t been for Robin and her devil fruit power, her ankle would have been done for. But the most disappointing one of all was when Nami walked into the kitchen before dinner. 

Every year, around this time, Nami tried to do something to honor her mother. Even through the worst of her time spent under Arlong’s fist, she continued this little tradition. No matter where she was, she would eat a tangerine. Early on, procuring the fruit had become harder than her original goal of raising money. She had been saving them for months,winter had proved itself to be too cold for her trees to produce the precious fruit. When she opened the fridge, all that remained was the bowl she had been storing them in. 

It took all her patience to politely turn around and ask who ate the tangerines, her nails digging into the palm of her hand in order to remain calm. 

“Sorry Nami, I really wanted to have something sweet before dinner,” Luffy apologized, his guilt plastered on his face. She couldn’t fault the man really. It was just his character, but that didn’t help the crushing sadness in Nami’s heart. 

“Luffy, you should have just waited for dinner,” Sanji said from behind the counter. 

“Sanji, it’s okay,” Nami said, sounding defeated. There was nothing that could be done now. Her only source of the fruit was gone and there is nothing that can bring them back. 

Nami could feel the waves of tears crashing their way to their breaking point. Years of training herself not to cry kicked in, her teeth grinding down on a small section of her tongue to push the salty tears back to back from once where they came. Nami counted to eight, slowly allowing air to fill her lungs, calming her body to hide any indications she was holding back a storm. 

“I’m just going to go to bed.” The red head made her way out of the kitchen, her crewmates eyes following her as she exited. 

It’s been slowly getting worse for weeks now, every day a swell of emotions threatened to overtake the seasoned navigator, the more the fiery woman pushed them back. She knew she was due for a regularly scheduled break down (she could not skip that again) but the unpredictable life of a pirate has no room for rigid routines. 

She never found a moment of peace, that was the main issue. Every time she thought she could let her emotions free, one of her crewmates came crashing in to disturb her sanctuary. Last week, she finally got the library to herself before Zoro literally came crashing through the walls; their noble sacrifice was one of many structures that fell victim to the ongoing war versus the sword and the knife. 

Nami made her way back to her bedroom, knowing how early in the evening it is, but too exhausted to care. She sighed as her back hit the door, sealing her shut from the outside world. Robin remained at dinner. While Nami enjoyed the woman’s company, she was happy for the privacy. Her own troubles began to come back to her, flowing up till her lower lids threatened to leak. 

This time she didn’t stop them. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dinner had been quiet. Luffy could feel the pressure around him. Sanji had decided to use the rinds of the tangerines Luffy devoured into make a cake in order to cheer Nami up. No one really stayed around to see the finished product, each crew member branched off to do their own thing. 

Luffy sat on Sunny’s head for a long time, trying to come up with ways to make it up to his navigator. Everything seemed to come back to food, oddly enough. Deciding that cake would solve everything, Luffy snuck his way into the kitchen to find it surprisingly empty. Sanji must have left it for the evening, the cake he had made was sitting untouched on the counter. Luffy cut two slices of the cake before quickly absconding with them, doing his best to avoid the hot headed chef. Luffy was on his way to the girl’s quarters when he saw the light on in the workshop. His curiosity got the better of him and so he went to go explore. 

Franky was there, behind some tables, clearly working on something. The cyborg looked up just as Luffy began to look into the room and almost froze. 

“Luffy?!” Franky said, sounding almost surprised. He had stopped whatever project he was working on. Luffy could not see what it was from where he was standing, but it seemed to involve.. Was that a human leg? 

“What are you doing, buddy?” Franky said, making Luffy’s wondering eyes back up to his crewmember’s face. 

“I felt bad for eating Nami’s fruit earlier, so I’m gonna give her cake to make up for it,” Luffy said, holding up the plates of flavored cake. 

“That’s a good idea. She should still be in her room, you should check there,” Franky said, his cheeks tinted red as the project laid out on the table started moving on its own. 

“I will, thanks Franky,” Luffy said as he quickly left the workshop and made his way to the girl’s quarters. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a while since Nami had done one of her “emotional cleansing” rituals. Her emotions just felt like shock waves that went through her, bringing her in and out of tears. It was calm now, and everyone must have finished dinner by now. Robin still hadn’t returned to the room, the older woman had probably taken sanctuary in the library. 

She felt like she could be okay, an hour of crying was enough being sad for one day. Time to pack up all the leftover emotions for next month’s emotianalpoloza. The woman wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks, before settling into bed. 

That’s when there was a knock at the door. 

Nami tried not to outwardly scream before composing herself to whoever wanted either woman on this ship at this hour. Nami swung open the door to be greeted by the face of her captain. It seemed his typical goofy smile had been replaced with a look of concern. 

“Nami,” he said, his voice only slightly louder than a whisper. “Have you been crying?” 

Nami always hated that she could never hide anything from him. 

Not even the tears she trained herself never to let fall. 

Without her permission, the flood gates opened once more. Luffy looked almost surprised, only to jump into the room. He managed to close the door, shuffling something in his hands. He placed whatever he was carrying only to wrap his arms around his navigator as tightly as he could.

He didn’t need to know why she was crying, though he heard Sanji and Zoro mention her name a few times at various levels of anger last week. None of that mattered; all that mattered was that Nami needed to smile as soon as possible. Her grip on the younger man got tighter as her breathing got faster, the flood of emotions finally allowing themselves to be uncorked in peace. It wasn’t ideal, she really prefered to do this alone. But Luffy always saw right through her, through any lie she could have told him, so it didn’t matter if he saw her true self. He was one of the few people who ever had. The pair stood there for a while, Luffy just holding the shorter woman as she let herself feel. After a while, Nami started to push herself off of Luffy’s chest, slowly wiping her eyes, clearing away any excess moisture. 

“I got your shirt wet, I’m sorry,” Nami croaked out, her voice rough. 

“Eh, doesn’t matter” Luffy mumbled, his eyes locked on Nami. 

“Thank you Luffy. I’m sorry I just broke down on you like that,” Nami continued. 

“There is nothing to apologize for Nami,” Luffy said, resting his hand on her head, his fingers lightly scratching the surface beneath it. “That’s what friends are for.” His iconic smile stretched across his face. It was apparently contagious, because Nami could feel the corners of her lips curl up. 

“What did you come here for in the first place?” Nami asked, realizing how close the man in front of her is. 

“I wanted to say sorry for eating your tangerines, and Sanji made a cake using the rinds,” Luffy said, his hat tilting forward as he retrieved the goods he brought in earlier. “I’m sorry, Nami.” 

“It’s okay, Luffy.” 

“No, it’s not!” Luffy said. “I know they’re important to you and you just looked so sad today. I just want you to smile again.” 

“It’s not your fault Luffy,” Nami said, accepting one of the plates. This technically counts as following the tradition, right? “Today is never a good day for me. It is Belle-mer [ é ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%A9) ’s birthday today.” 

“I’m sorry,” Lufy said. “I don’t remember who Belle-mer [ é ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%A9) is.” 

Nami was shocked. Nojiko had told her, back after Arlong had been defeated, that she had explained to her friends all about their mother. Wasn’t Luffy there for that? 

“Didn’t Nojiko tell you about her?” Nami asked, clearly he just didn’t remember. 

“No,” Luffy said, “She tried to tell us about how Arlong gained control of your hometown but I just walked away.” 

“Why did you walk away?” Nami asked. What could have drove him to not know about Nami’s past? 

“None of that mattered. Arlong made you cry. That’s more than enough reason to kick his ass,” Luffy said, pulling away from the old woman in order to take a bite out of his piece of cake. Nami could barely believe what he was saying. Even after all she had done when she had tried to leave, pretending to kill Ussop, stealing the ship he desperately needed to continue his journey. Through all that, he still trusted her enough to come to her aid. Nami’s chest felt tight, as if something warm were sitting on her chest. 

The pair devoured their desert as Nami told stories from her childhood. Luffy had eaten his piece so fast, that there was a bit of icing left over on his nose. Nami laughed, leaning over to wipe the sweet mixture off, only to pick her finger clean. 

“It’s late,” Luffy said, looking out the window behind them at the dark night sky. 

“Jeez, what time is it?” Nami said, searching for the clock her and Robin kept somewhere in this room. 

“Doesn’t matter,” Luffy said, getting up to plop himself down on Nami’s bed. 

…. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Nami said, standing up, her hands finding their way to her hips to help her glare down her captain. 

“It’s gotta be after midnight. If I’m caught leaving this room, this late at night, Sanji is going to kill me,” Luffy said, a small amount of fear in his eyes. 

“And sleeping with me is going to make him less likely to murder you?” Nami could hear the double meaning in her words as they left her lips, internally cringing and hoping her captain didn’t notice. “What about Robin? I don’t know what she would think about you sleeping here.” 

“It’s okay, she’s with Franky.” Luffy said, taking off his straw hat. “Please Nami. I haven’t slept for five days. I feel like I’m going to crash, so…” Luffy said, slipping underneath the covers. 

“Why haven’t you slept in five days?” Nami said, her temper growing. 

“I wasn’t tired.” 

Nami could really kill him sometimes, she swore she really could. 

Deciding to not argue any further, she decided to climb into bed with her captain. That really sounds a lot worse than it is. 

She managed to keep Luffy awake enough to agree to pajamas. She offered him some of her oversized clothes she wore for the sake of fashion (but mostly comfort). He opted to take some comfortable looking sweatpants and an old t-shirt Nami used on cleaning days. The pair made their way into Nami’s king sized bed, inwardly thanking herself that she pushed out the extra belli for the larger bed for her and Robin. Nami had a side to herself while Luffy laid at her back. In the stillness of the dark, quiet room, Nami’s other senses were running crazy. She could smell the mascline presence next to her. 

“You smell nice,” Nami said, amazed that she let the words slip out of her mouth. She could feel the bed shake as Luffy chuckled. 

“Thanks. I took a bath today,” He answered. 

“Please tell me you bathe more often than you sleep,” Nami said, unprepared for the truth. 

“Eh, it’s about the same,” Luffy dead panned, he himself unprepared for Nami’s smack on the back of his head. 

“You really need to take care of yourself,” Nami said, now facing Luffy’s back. He then proceeded to roll over, looking his navigator in the eyes. 

“I’m fine, Nami. Plus, I have to take care of all you guys,” He smiled. 

“Idiot,” Nami muttered. Luffy looked upset, but Nami continued, “We care about you too. Let us take care of you for once,” She smiled back at him. Luffy felt a weight on his chest, like an enemy had punched him right in the gut. 

“Fine, I’ll try my best,” He managed to make out, not making eye contact with the woman beside him. 

“You better,” Nami smiled, before rolling around to prepare herself for bed. Neither one knowing what to do with the sensation bubbling up in their stomachs. 

  
  


~~~~

Robin tiptoed her way into her room, careful not to disturb Nami in her return. The moon was way up in the sky, practically lighting up the room, which aided in Robin’s preparation for bed. In her rush she almost missed an event more rare than anything she could ever find in one of her books. Luffy, his face more soft than any one had ever seen, his nose pressed into the bright orange head of hair belonging to the treasured navigator. Both were sound asleep, and Robin would bet that neither were aware of the position their unconscious state brought them to. She would certainly hear the result in the morning, making an interesting way to start the new day. Robin wished she had a den den mushi to capture the moment, knowing that the likelihood of it ever happening again was more likely that Rodger would rise from the dead. Robin allowed herself to stare for a few moments longer before helping herself to the spare hammock they had in their room, eagerly anticipating the next daily adventure. 


End file.
